WHEN Keith Corbin started Havelet Trust, his major task was to convince people that he had the required knowledge and experience of the industry. ‘Now that I’m double the age I was when I started Havelet, the problem isn’t convincing people I have the knowledge. One of the questions they ask is: ﾓHow many years is he going to be around to look after my assetsﾔ,’ he said.

Mr Corbin now heads Nerine Trust and still loves the buzz that running a company brings.

‘Quite a few of my contemporaries have retired or are in the process of retiring but I have no thoughts about that because what’s going on is so exciting.

‘One of the many challenges I’m embracing is our joint venture in Hong Kong. I think south-east Asia is one of the major market places for offshore services.

‘I’m really focused on building Nerine to become a major player in the business we are in and concentrating on niche businesses that we run and our high net-worth clients.’

Mr Corbin is a local success story. Born and brought up in the island, he is keen to dispel the myth that the top echelon of the finance industry is populated by people from outside.

‘There is a lot of discussion with zero-10 about how we continue to guarantee our economic prosperity. What concerns me is part of that debate is that there’s still a perception within Guernsey that the finance industry is largely run by people from outside who have no real loyalty and at the drop of a hat will move somewhere else if it suits them.’

He said it was a misconception that he was working hard to put right.

‘If you look at the number of families in Guernsey who benefit directly or indirectly from the industry, I would hope that the benefits of the finance industry were better understood.’

Most of Mr Corbin’s career has been in finance but he could easily have become a PE teacher instead.

His love of sport had to be tempered to ensure his schoolwork did not suffer.

‘I was very keen on sport and was a reasonably good football and rugby player and athlete. I was the cross-country champion on occasions. I think I still hold the distinction of the highest number of Priaulx League appearances for any living Rangers footballer.’

While doing A-levels at the Grammar School for Boys, he thought of pursuing a career in physical education.

‘Right at the last minute I had second thoughts about it. I suddenly thought about being 50, which I didn’t realise would come as quickly as it has, and didn’t want to be running round a football field.’

He took a rain check and instead joined the Income Tax office where he stayed for two-and-a-half years.

It was the early 1970s and the finance industry was starting to bloom.

‘There were many banks establishing operations in Guernsey and I went to work for what is now known as Citibank.’

He stayed for a year and left to go to Slater Walker. Its Guernsey operation was acquired by Ansbacher following the stock market crash in 1974.

Mr Corbin stayed with Ansbacher for five years, building up a specialist knowledge in international trust management. He was also in charge of business development, a key skill which helped later.

In 1979 he was working with a team of tax planning specialists in London who joined J. H. Minet, a large insurance broking group.

‘We formed a specialist tax planning and private clients subsidiary. They approached me to set up a Guernsey operation for them, which I did.’

In 1982, Minet decided to dispose of all non-core insurance broking interests. For Mr Corbin, it was time to take a risk.

‘Together with some colleagues in London and my long-standing colleague Neal Duquemin, we did a management buyout and changed the company name to Havelet.’

He continued to build the business and took it from being a Guernsey operation to opening offices in the British Virgin Islands, Switzerland and Gibraltar.

Mr Corbin, along with Mr Duquemin, left Havelet in 1997 and faced a two-year period of being unable to trade.

It gave him plenty of time to do other things, including taking the chairmanship of the Guernsey Association of Trustees and the Guernsey International Business Association.

He was also chairman of the newly-established Guernsey Training Agency and sat as a non-executive director on several company boards and carried out consultancy work.

Being under the anti-competition clause gave him time to reassess and think about the future. It was at the time the island was in the uncomfortable spotlight of the OECD and the Edwards report.

‘There was a lot of concern in Guernsey and offshore centres about what the future held. It was time to think about the future and was a valuable experience to be away from running a business and consider my next move.’

When the two years was up, Mr Corbin and Mr Duquemin thought seriously about what to do next.

‘I felt very, very confident about the future. I could have re-entered business anywhere in the world but I took the view that Guernsey had a good future.’

They founded a new trust business called Larem. The following year the pair found themselves in discussion with colleagues they had worked with at Havelet who, upon leaving that company had started their own venture, Nerine.

The two businesses merged with Mr Corbin and Mr Duquemin taking a controlling interest in the group and keeping the name.

It is an international operation with its head office in Guernsey and operations in BVI and Geneva.

Keith’s twin sons, Gareth and Matthew, are also involved in the business. Gareth is a director of the Geneva operation and Matthew is heavily involved in taking Nerine to Hong Kong.

‘It’s an added incentive to have my children working with me and an added motivation. I hope I can pass on some of what I have learned to them.’

His daughter, Claire, also works in the Guernsey office though she now works part-time. She is the mother of two young children and that and a passion for marathon running more than occupies her days.

Mr Corbin attributes his success in business down to a competitive and determined nature, a supportive family and team building skills which he developed through his passion for sport and honed in the business environment.

He also places great importance on loyalty and long-term thinking of his secretary, Beryl Davidge.

She has worked with him for 33 years and two other directors have been colleagues for more than 20 years.

He also paid tribute to his wife, Carolyn, who has been at his side while he built his business.

‘As always happens when you are in the process of building a business, you work long hours, you travel and then come home at weekends and play sport and also try to fulfil family duties.

‘She’s been very, very supportive and probably has been the biggest influence on me.’